Justin Flom

Last updated
Justin Flom
Justin Flom magician.jpg
Born (1986-04-29) April 29, 1986 (age 37)
Years active2005–present
Agent CAA
Known forCard Hit Wonder, Wizard Wars, Sawing a Baby in Half
SpouseJocelynn Flom

(m. 2009; div. 2021)

Anna Rothfuss

(m. 2023)
RelativesJosh Flom, Jordan Flom, Janelle Flom
Website http://www.justinflom.com

Justin Flom (born April 29, 1986) [1] is an American illusionist. He is best known for his YouTube series along with his television show Wizard Wars in which he performs magic with ordinary objects. [2] [3] Along with his video and television work, he performs live with either his own touring show or opening for music acts in large venues. [4]

Contents

Early life

Born in Edina, Minnesota, Flom was raised in a family of magicians (his father and uncle were practicing magicians). He has two brothers and a sister. Flom started doing magic at an early age with his siblings. He was homeschooled. [5]

Career

Branson, Missouri, 2005–2009

In 2005 Flom skipped college and instead took his show to The Branson Mall Music Theatre in Branson, Missouri [1] where he was the youngest headliner on the strip. [6] He built above the Majestic Steak House, The Imaginary Theatre and Magic Parlor, which opened July 1, 2006 [1] In 2011, wanting to make more magic videos online, he began working on new tricks. [5]

YouTube 2012–2013

Flom's Magic Block Party, filmed in Eden Prairie summer of 2012, caught the eye of Ellen DeGeneres and she put him on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. [6] [7] He then became a regular guest on her show. [8] Flom was named Best Up and Coming Entertainer of the Year by Las Vegas Weekly. [9]

Creators of Wizard Wars Rick Lax and Justin Flom with fellow Wizard Angela Funovitz on set. WizardAngelaFunovitz.jpg
Creators of Wizard Wars Rick Lax and Justin Flom with fellow Wizard Angela Funovitz on set.

2014

In 2014, James Galea formed the Band of Magicians with Flom, Justin Willman, and Nate Staniforth. [2] [10]

In 2014, Syfy Television network filmed a new show, Wizard Wars, starring Flom along with Penn and Teller and several other magicians competing to create magic out of ordinary objects on the spot. [3] [11] Flom is also an associate producer of Wizard Wars [12] and the show is based on an idea of Rick Lax's from Flom's YouTube channel. [13] Flom is lead Wizard on the series. Over a million people watched the Wizard Wars series premiere. [14] The episode highlighted Canadian illusionists Chris Funk and Ekaterina, who ended up losing the "Wizard War" to Flom.

2015–2017

Flom played a part in a WWE storyline on Smackdown showing magic to the superstars backstage and smashing an egg on the face of The Miz, further adding to the rift between him and Mizdow (also known as Damien Sandow). Flom was on promoting the new season of Wizard Wars which followed that January 29, 2015 episode of Smackdown. [15]

Justin Flom, the first magician to perform close up magic at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Justin Flom at Madison Square Garden.JPG
Justin Flom, the first magician to perform close up magic at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

In 2015, Flom opened for country music group Florida Georgia Line on their arena tour. [4]

Most of Flom's time was spent making YouTube and Snapchat videos while performing live magic around the United States. Jocelynn Flom, his wife at the time, filmed all the videos while Flom edited the footage. [16]

2018

2018 opened with Flom's release of Sawing a Baby in Half, in which he performed the classic "sawing a lady in half" but with his 4-month-old daughter, and with various other magic effects all exceeding 100 million views. [17]

2019

Flom was a contestant on The World's Best where he advanced to the champion rounds. [18]

2020s

During the worldwide pandemic, Flom started creating Facebook videos full-time and became one of the top 5 U.S. Facebook pages with the highest reach beating out Donald Trump and Fox News. [19] [20] In 2020 alone his content has had 6.4 billion minutes viewed on Facebook's platform. [21]

Between 2020 and 2022, Flom filmed over 2,000 videos with views totaling over 20 billion on Facebook. His page was the most viewed Facebook page worldwide for the month of January 2022 and February of the same year. As a magician, Flom often exposes long-guarded trade secrets of magic tricks. Criticism was leveled at Flom by magicians, and he was barred from several magic organizations. [22] [23]

Personal life

Flom married Jocelynn Sharp in 2009. The couple then moved to Las Vegas to partner with top magic creators. [6] [16]

In late-2020, Flom was hospitalized with sepsis complicated with a cardiac embolism, which was brought on by an infected paper cut.

In the spring of 2021, he and Jocelynn split up. In 2023 he married Anna Rothfuss [24]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Linking Ring Magazine Volume 87 Number 5 May 2007
  2. 1 2 "Theatre & Dance". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Las Vegas Review-Journal". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  4. 1 2 LUSTIG, JAY. "Review: Florida Georgia Line at Madison Square Garden" . Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  5. 1 2 "Presto! Eden Prairie magician Justin Flom has new SyFy series". Star Tribune . Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  6. 1 2 3 SWNewsMedia.com. "Eden Prairie News". SWNewsMedia.com. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  7. ↑ "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" . Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  8. ↑ Recapo, Ellen: Steve Carell Scares DJ Tony & Justin Flom Fire Magic Tricks, July 3, 2013
  9. ↑ "Best Up-and-Coming Entertainer: Justin Flom" . Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  10. ↑ "Magic boy band a pure delight" . Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  11. ↑ "Syfy's Summer 2014 Programming Features Premieres of 'Dominion' & 'Wizard Wars' & New Seasons of 'Defiance' & 'Face Off'". 28 May 2014. Archived from the original on 30 June 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  12. ↑ "iTricks.com Magic News, Magic Videos and Podcasts » Blog Archive » Magic Meets Top Chef: Wizard Wars to Air on Syfy March 4th!". itricks.com. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  13. ↑ "iTricks.com Magic News, Magic Videos and Podcasts » Blog Archive » Awesome Living Room Staged Magic Version of Chopped". itricks.com. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  14. ↑ "Wizard Wars Conjures Up Over One Million Total Viewers". Archived from the original on 22 August 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  15. ↑ "Superstars watch Justin Flom from "Wizard Wars" get tricking backstage: SmackDown, January 29, 2015 - Daily Wrestling News". dailywrestlingnews.com. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  16. 1 2 Wennerstrom, Karla (23 July 2014). "Time for another magical experience in an Eden Prairie backyard" . Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  17. ↑ "15 Magician 'Cutting' Baby in Half Makes the Internet Go Crazy" . Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  18. ↑ "Minnesota magician Justin Flom to compete on new reality show 'The World's Best'". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
  19. ↑ Ray, Siladitya. "Facebook's Ban On Political Ads Will Continue For One More Month". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
  20. ↑ Fischer, Sara. "Facebook says 6% of the content its users see is political". Axios. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
  21. ↑ "Tubular". Tubular Labs. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
  22. ↑ "Former Branson entertainer reflects on past, new viral video career". Branson News. 15 March 2022.
  23. ↑ Mears, Ashley (2022-07-28). "Hocus focus: how magicians made a fortune on Facebook". The Economist. ISSN   0013-0613 . Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  24. ↑ "Marriage Dissolution/Divorce lawsuit".
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